BLAST Premier Fall Groups revealed

The brackets and full schedule were also included as part of the announcement.

The schedule for the first big event after the player break, BLAST Premier Fall Groups, was announced today via the BLAST website and Twitter account.

BLAST’s $177,500 event will feature a best-of-one double elimination group stage to kick things off, before a gauntlet-style best-of-three knockout stage. The first placed teams in each group will await in the final games of the three gauntlet brackets, the second placed teams in round 2 of the gauntlet, whilst third and fourth will battle it out in round 1. The winners of each gauntlet will make the Fall Final.

There is also a last chance stage, where the six teams eliminated in rounds 2 and 3 of the knockout stage will battle in three separate best-of-threes, the winners of which will also head to the Fall Final.

Current juggernaut teams FaZe and Natus Vincere find themselves in separate groups, and are unable to meet throughout the event unless one or both fail to finish first in the group stage. The event will also be the first chance to see the new-look G2, Vitality, Evil Geniuses and Complexity squads.

The full groups and opening matchups are as follows:

Group C
FaZe
HEROIC
BIG
Evil Geniuses

Opening schedule:

Group A (August 19)
13:00 Vitality vs. OG
14:00 Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Astralis

Group B (August 20)
13:00 Natus Vincere vs. Complexity
14:00 G2 vs. Liquid

Group C (August 21)
13:00 FaZe vs. Evil Geniuses
14:00 HEROIC vs. BIG